At their meeting Wednesday, members of the Kansas Board of Regents endorsed a proposed $17.5 million apartment building at Kansas University. The high-dollar structure will house 66 students and is intended primarily to serve as a recruiting tool for KU’s men’s and women’s basketball programs.

Several regents noted the “sticker shock” of the project, which pencils out at about $265,000 per apartment, but the dollar amount prompted only one negative vote — from Regent Kenny Wilk of Basehor. Other regents apparently believed the expenditure was justified because, as Regent Ed McKechnie noted, KU is “recruiting for a world class program” and faces stiff competition from other schools, including some in California, which can offer living quarters with a view of the Pacific Ocean.

That’s true. No ocean here, just a tradition rich, iconic basketball program and a major research university that is trying hard to maintain state and private financial support for its academic programs.

KU representatives indicated that the overall cost of the apartment building also includes a commons area, a kitchen, a parking lot and, of course, a half-court basketball facility. Presumably the fortunate 34 non-athletes that will share the complex will have equal access to all of those facilities.

Perhaps the regents were justified in not micromanaging KU’s decision to pursue this project, which will be paid for by private donations and bonds that will be repaid using rental income from the building, but they weren’t the only ones who wondered whether a more modest structure might have filled KU’s recruiting needs.